Troika (Hydroth)
The Troika was utopian society that once dominated the three submerged continents of planet Hydroth. Consisting of the Hydrothi, Zazlotl and the Zolacians, the organization only existed for a mere few hundred years before the Zolacian's paranoia led to it's demise and brought about the Zolacian Empire which ruled the entire planet of Hydroth with iron fists. The Formation of the Troika In the early history of Hydroth, the Zolacians began to explore their homeworld via strange under vehicles. They discovered two other sentient races during the early expeditions, the Ghazra and Lyssh, both of whom were hostile the Zolacians. Later on, the the Zolacians discovered the Zazlotl, who were somewhat more neutral in their actions, and would spend much time hiding in small caverns that resided upon the continent itself. The Zolacians were surprised to find any life up here at all, and these were the first race considered safe for the Zolacians to make contact with. This contact was slow and tedious at first, with each species acting more cautious than the other, but eventually a tentative agreement was reached, bringing the Zolacian and the Zazlotl people into a renaissance era. Considered by many scholars to be the shortest era of time within the Zolacian timeline, the two species' technologies boomed with the help of the other, and soon they set off to find the last of the continents, which as they expected led to the discovery of yet another sapient species. To the Zolacian's shock and surprise, these sapients were quite similar in appearance to their own kind; in fact, the two species were genetically related to each other by a distant relative, both belonging to the same phylum. Unlike the distrusting Zolacians, this new race, who called themselves the Hydrothi, were a peaceful people, and they had not been converted into the grass-like niche of their cousin-race. This coupling was easier on the Zolacians to accept than it was for them to accept the Zazlotl, and soon all three species were successfully trading and living together. This coupling would become known by future historians as the Troika. An Unintentional Betrayal & the Collapse of the Troika It was not more than a few hundred years before the Zazlotl came across the Ghazra. They soon discovered that the Ghazra were not hostile to them like they were to the Zolacians, and the two species were able to set up a relationship with one another. No harm came from this for quite a while, leading to even more prosperous times where the Troika's combined technologies influenced the few tools of the Ghazra. However, when the Zolacians discovered their original allies had become good friends with the hostile Ghazra, they took this as an omen. Believing it would lead to the downfall of their beloved Troika, the Zolacian leaders confronted those of the Zazlotl, initially pleading with and eventually ordering them to cut all ties to the "free-swimming monstrosities". The Zazlotl, taken aback by this order, refused, inciting their own freedom and will to do as they chose fit. For the first few months after this dual-race council meeting, the Zolacians lived in complete fear for their lives, every day filling them with the dread of an attack, while every night filled them with nightmares of the same. This fear within their general populace led to anger in their councilors, who incited that they had lost the peace they had striven so hard to obtain. With the Zazlotl utterly refusing to cut off their relations to the Ghazra, the Zolacian council chose to go to war. Not expecting these results at all, the Zazlotl were far from prepared, and large numbers of their kind were annihilated within a few days' time. Many Zazlotls fled their ancestral lands and moved into Ghazra territory, where they were welcomed by open fins. Here the two races retaliated against the zealous Zolacians, and for a while they seemed like they would win. But when the Hydrothi were ordered to be enlisted into the former Troika's armies, the tides quickly turned, and both the Zazlotl and the Ghazra were beaten into submission, both their technological levels being stripped from them, forcing them back to a near-tribal era. The peace-loving Hydrothi were traumatized by what they had been apart of, and when the Zolacians explained at another meeting of their intent to bring the Lyssh to their knee-equivalents to prevent them from also affecting the overall safety of both species, the Hydrothi shakingly told their allies that they could not participate in the oncoming battles, as their hands were already too stained with the blood of others, and they could not let their people perform such a terrible act again, which had brought their entire populace into a dark, brooding depression. The Zolacians were disheartened by this, and reluctantly agreed to the terms; soon the Zolacian army was off to bring down the Lyssh culture as well. This species proved hardier than the two before it, and many Zolacian soldiers were killed in the ensuing battles; however, they eventually won with numbers, and the Lyssh too were beaten back. With the few surviving soldiers returned to their home cities, the councilors began to secretly distrust their allies, the Hydrothi. Why had they chosen not to fight alongside them? If they had, perhaps the casualties on their side would have been far less, and the war would have been won far sooner. Fearful as ever, they began to wonder if the Hydrothi may one day conspire against them, as they sincerely believed the Zazlotl had before them. They eventually decided it was too risky to trust them not to, and with heavy heart-equivalents, they brought their remaining soldiers against their only remaining allies, choosing to do so under the cover of darkness. Few Hydrothi survived that bloody night; those that did were mostly larvae and juveniles, with a few adult females and males peppered sparsely between them. Those who did survive the onslaught were then forced back to their home continent, and like the others, their technology was stripped from them. With all other races beaten back into their tribal ages, the Zolacians became the absolute rulers of the world, which they named in their honor: Zolacia. Eventually, those who performed the dark deeds with heavy heart-equivalents perished, and the old alliances were forgotten. The generations of Zolacians who followed would rule with iron phalanges. And so ended the Troika. Full-Fledged Members The Troika consisted of three races that had aligned themselves together to form a massive near-global empire of Hydroth. Note that the Ghazra were considered a potential addition to the Troika by the Zazlotl and to small degree by the Hydrothi, the clear exception to this idea was the Zolacian. While the Ghazra were friendly to the Troika, particularly the Zazlotl, they never truly became members of the Troika. Hydrothi Lineup.png|Hydrothi (Former members but were later enslaved by their former allies the Zolacians as a result of their paranoia.) Cruzpuppy Concept.jpg|Zazlotl (Former members but were later enslaved by their former allies the Zolacians as a result of their paranoia.) Zolacian Small Image.png|Zolacian (Former members, but led to its collapse after they enslaved the Hydrothi and Zazlotl and formed the Zolacian Empire.) Territory The Troika nearly dominated all of Hydroth, with the exception of two out of the five submerged continents, though it had a great deal of positive influence on the submerged continent of the Ghazra.. The Troika never completely dominated Hydroth, nor did it ever reach the stars before it collapsed and was replaced by the Zolacian Empire. Hydroth.jpg|Hydroth (Governed a large section of the planet and influenced several regions culturally and technologically.) Category:Somarinoa's Content Category:Original Content Category:Original Affiliations Category:Troika